The present invention relates to a method of forming and conveying groups of products.
In particular, the present invention relates to a method of forming and conveying groups of elongated products, the method comprising the steps of feeding said products successively and continuously along a first path to a stacking device; stacking the products, by means of the stacking device, along guide elements to form a group, the products in the group being maintained in the stacked position by the guide elements; and transferring the, group along a second path into a respective conveying pocket moving along the second path.
Methods of the above type are normally implemented using stacking devices in which the guide elements, besides maintaining the products in the stacked position as they are being stacked, also provide for feeding each group of stacked products to a conveying device, which comprises a conveying surface extending along the second path, and a conveying element for feeding each group along the conveying surface. The group of products is normally unloaded onto the conveying surface by the guide elements and subsequently engaged and fed along the conveying surface by the conveying element.
Such methods have proved relatively effective in stacking and feeding products with at least one flat contact surface. When working with substantially cylindrical products, on the other hand, unloading the groups onto the conveying surface poses problems, due to each group invariably breaking up as it is unloaded. And the same also applies, at times, to products with a flat contact surface, when the group is subsequently engaged by the conveying element.